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Fifth Freedom, 1982-01-01

Fifth Freedom, 1982-01-01

THE FIFTH FREEDOM A PUBLICATION FOR THE BUFFALO CAY COMMUNITY JANUARY 1982 FREE "The Freedom to love whomever and however we want" Year End Review: 1981's Best And Worst BY ROD HENSEL January, it has developed, is a time for review. A time to reflect on the year past, and the year that lies ahead. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens, in a statement that could probably be the definitive year end review for every year since the lines were first penned. But how bad, or how good, was 1981 for the Buffalo gay community as a whole? THE DEBATE Perhaps most significant in the year was the continuing debate over if there really is a Buffalo gay community. It was a not a debate with a formal speaker for and a formal speaker against, yet it was the undercurrent found in many discussions by gaymen and men in Buffalo. The year was a lot like the line by Dickens. There was a unified effort for a spectacular Gay Pride Fest celebration...but it uncovered some old wounds, divisions and problems that still seem to have no solutions. Gay groups became more active and vigorous...but others slowed down as they faced the problemof maintaining momentum. The gay bar scene expanded...and then shrunk...and the expanded as Buffalo's gays left business people in a quandry over just what type of establishment they were looking for. But the debate, the question of is there a really a cohesive gay community, was behind it all. The organizations were there, the plans were there, but in the results, something always seemed to come out missing. THE DECISION The year began with Gays across New York State, and indeed the nation, taking in the news that the state's antisodomy laws had been overturned by the State Court of Appeals. It meant, for the first time, it was no longer against the law to be Gay. It meant that men and men, and women and women, at last were accorded the right to be themselves in the privacy of their homes. "The makers of our constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness," wrote the court in its decision. "They recognized the signifigance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings, and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their motions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized man." "Protection for the right of privacy for individuals indulging in acts of sexual intimacy (by unmarried persons) and as to satisfaction of sexual desires be resort ot material condemned as obscene by community standards when done in a cloistered setting, no rational basis appears for excluding the same from protection decisions...so long as the decisions are voluntarily made by adults in a non-commerical, private setting." THE LAWSUIT The decision was a battle won, but the war was not over. While the courts had affirmed the rights of homosexuals to indulge in sex in private, there remained the legal question of getting there. For that, the State of New York used the anti-loitering law as a weapon against Gays, a law which in the interpretation of the police and courts, still made it illegal for you to ask someone to join with you in the act that was now clearly legal. In September, the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier filed suit in Federal Court seeking to void enforcement of the loitering law charging that it was used to discriminate unfairly against homosexuals. Led by attorney William Gardner, the suit contends that since consensual sodomy is no longer illegal, neither should it be illegal to remain in a public place to solicit another to engage in that activity. While the Federal suit was pending, the law was also being attacked in the criminal court system. Because one person arrested under the law was willing to face the personal publicity of an appeals suit, and because of a Buffalo City Court judge's decision that the loitering law applies to gays but not prostitutes, the stage has been set for a new legal battle that could yet see the loitering law topple in the same manner as the sodomy law. THE CELEBRATION But all was not so serious during the year. The city's gay organizations, both men's and women's groups, finally got things enough together in 1981 to stage a Gay Pride Fest celebration that lasted an entire month. There were gay boat cruises on the Niagara River, gay seminars, picnics, roller skating parties, discussions on being gay, a health fair and a climactic Fourth of July dance on the U.S.S. Little Rock. The activities were social: a chance to meet new people, to build new friendships to start a summer romance, and for some, the start of a more lasting and personal relationship. But it was also hours of effort, disputes and bickering, and resentments held in for the sake of the unity and seeing the project through. THE COALITION Out of the pleasure and pain of Gay Pride Fest was born the idea that perhaps gays in Buffalo could learn to work together, that perhaps it was time to try again build a community center that would really work as place for everyone. The Gay Pride Fest events had overall, worked: they had even made money. And so began the long and agonizingly slow process began of trying to start and find a way to maintain a community. The obstacles remained great: personal dislikes, misunderstandings, financial proglems and political disputes. Some embraces the concept, but held long and bitter memories of efforts past. Now, six months after birth, the infant coalition still struggles to survive Fifth Freedom Advisor Stereotypes in Looks And Actions Questioned Dear FFA, I have only been out for a very short time and there is one thing that really disturbs mc. I hope you can help. Why is it that so many gay men and women fit the gay stereotype, in fact seem to try and go out of their way to fit it? I realize there are many other gays that do not fit the things that "they" say about "us," but all to often when I go out to the bars it seems that the scene could be out of a movie about homosexuals. Many gay men are very feminine in their behavior and camp it up with the limp wrists, lisps, "hi, sweetie," routines, and every other cliche that "faggots" do. It really sickens mc to see a guy that could be cute using make-up, plucking his eyebrows and really acting nelly. Lesbians seem to do the same thing. I realize they have had enough of what "a real woman should look like,"just as gay males are questioning what a "real man" means; but sometimes they seem to go overboard with their male attire, traditional male haircuts, and avoidance of any make up to highlight their features (in moderation, of course). It would seem that as we fight the stereotypical male and female roles that society has come to accept as the norm, we have forced ourselves to be exactly what they say faggots, dykes, queers, lezzies, fairies and homos are all about. How can we be ourselves and find out who the real us really is? Unhappy Homosexual Dear Un, It is true that many homosexuals act out a stereotype image. Men acting feminine and women acting masculine are a common sight in bars and sometimes at the various organizations. Consider a young man just coming out and going to the gay bars for the first time. If the bar he goes to has mostly effeminate men, he quickly tends to imitate their actions. No one wants to be the oddball in the group. We know that in any group to be accepted by that group you must fit in. If the people in a bar all act feminine then to fit in you too must act feminine. EMMA Bookstore: A New Home In Allentown EMMA, the Buffalo Women's Bookstore moves to Allentown, Tuesday, February second. EMMA has a new location — 168 Elmwood, between Allen and North. There will be a grand opening celebration on Saturday, February 6th, with refreshments, a gift certificate drawing, and a 10% discount on sales. Store hours are 11 to 7, Tuesday through Saturday. EMMA is an information and resource center for women and offers a lending library. EMMA sells books on women's lives, health, fiction, poetry, as well as records, children's books, T-shirts, and cards. 836-8970 for further information. EMMA Bookstore will be housed in this building, 168 Elmwood near North, in February, Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7

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Transcript

THE FIFTH FREEDOM A PUBLICATION FOR THE BUFFALO CAY COMMUNITY JANUARY 1982 FREE "The Freedom to love whomever and however we want" Year End Review: 1981's Best And Worst BY ROD HENSEL January, it has developed, is a time for review. A time to reflect on the year past, and the year that lies ahead. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens, in a statement that could probably be the definitive year end review for every year since the lines were first penned. But how bad, or how good, was 1981 for the Buffalo gay community as a whole? THE DEBATE Perhaps most significant in the year was the continuing debate over if there really is a Buffalo gay community. It was a not a debate with a formal speaker for and a formal speaker against, yet it was the undercurrent found in many discussions by gaymen and men in Buffalo. The year was a lot like the line by Dickens. There was a unified effort for a spectacular Gay Pride Fest celebration...but it uncovered some old wounds, divisions and problems that still seem to have no solutions. Gay groups became more active and vigorous...but others slowed down as they faced the problemof maintaining momentum. The gay bar scene expanded...and then shrunk...and the expanded as Buffalo's gays left business people in a quandry over just what type of establishment they were looking for. But the debate, the question of is there a really a cohesive gay community, was behind it all. The organizations were there, the plans were there, but in the results, something always seemed to come out missing. THE DECISION The year began with Gays across New York State, and indeed the nation, taking in the news that the state's antisodomy laws had been overturned by the State Court of Appeals. It meant, for the first time, it was no longer against the law to be Gay. It meant that men and men, and women and women, at last were accorded the right to be themselves in the privacy of their homes. "The makers of our constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness," wrote the court in its decision. "They recognized the signifigance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings, and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their motions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized man." "Protection for the right of privacy for individuals indulging in acts of sexual intimacy (by unmarried persons) and as to satisfaction of sexual desires be resort ot material condemned as obscene by community standards when done in a cloistered setting, no rational basis appears for excluding the same from protection decisions...so long as the decisions are voluntarily made by adults in a non-commerical, private setting." THE LAWSUIT The decision was a battle won, but the war was not over. While the courts had affirmed the rights of homosexuals to indulge in sex in private, there remained the legal question of getting there. For that, the State of New York used the anti-loitering law as a weapon against Gays, a law which in the interpretation of the police and courts, still made it illegal for you to ask someone to join with you in the act that was now clearly legal. In September, the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier filed suit in Federal Court seeking to void enforcement of the loitering law charging that it was used to discriminate unfairly against homosexuals. Led by attorney William Gardner, the suit contends that since consensual sodomy is no longer illegal, neither should it be illegal to remain in a public place to solicit another to engage in that activity. While the Federal suit was pending, the law was also being attacked in the criminal court system. Because one person arrested under the law was willing to face the personal publicity of an appeals suit, and because of a Buffalo City Court judge's decision that the loitering law applies to gays but not prostitutes, the stage has been set for a new legal battle that could yet see the loitering law topple in the same manner as the sodomy law. THE CELEBRATION But all was not so serious during the year. The city's gay organizations, both men's and women's groups, finally got things enough together in 1981 to stage a Gay Pride Fest celebration that lasted an entire month. There were gay boat cruises on the Niagara River, gay seminars, picnics, roller skating parties, discussions on being gay, a health fair and a climactic Fourth of July dance on the U.S.S. Little Rock. The activities were social: a chance to meet new people, to build new friendships to start a summer romance, and for some, the start of a more lasting and personal relationship. But it was also hours of effort, disputes and bickering, and resentments held in for the sake of the unity and seeing the project through. THE COALITION Out of the pleasure and pain of Gay Pride Fest was born the idea that perhaps gays in Buffalo could learn to work together, that perhaps it was time to try again build a community center that would really work as place for everyone. The Gay Pride Fest events had overall, worked: they had even made money. And so began the long and agonizingly slow process began of trying to start and find a way to maintain a community. The obstacles remained great: personal dislikes, misunderstandings, financial proglems and political disputes. Some embraces the concept, but held long and bitter memories of efforts past. Now, six months after birth, the infant coalition still struggles to survive Fifth Freedom Advisor Stereotypes in Looks And Actions Questioned Dear FFA, I have only been out for a very short time and there is one thing that really disturbs mc. I hope you can help. Why is it that so many gay men and women fit the gay stereotype, in fact seem to try and go out of their way to fit it? I realize there are many other gays that do not fit the things that "they" say about "us," but all to often when I go out to the bars it seems that the scene could be out of a movie about homosexuals. Many gay men are very feminine in their behavior and camp it up with the limp wrists, lisps, "hi, sweetie," routines, and every other cliche that "faggots" do. It really sickens mc to see a guy that could be cute using make-up, plucking his eyebrows and really acting nelly. Lesbians seem to do the same thing. I realize they have had enough of what "a real woman should look like,"just as gay males are questioning what a "real man" means; but sometimes they seem to go overboard with their male attire, traditional male haircuts, and avoidance of any make up to highlight their features (in moderation, of course). It would seem that as we fight the stereotypical male and female roles that society has come to accept as the norm, we have forced ourselves to be exactly what they say faggots, dykes, queers, lezzies, fairies and homos are all about. How can we be ourselves and find out who the real us really is? Unhappy Homosexual Dear Un, It is true that many homosexuals act out a stereotype image. Men acting feminine and women acting masculine are a common sight in bars and sometimes at the various organizations. Consider a young man just coming out and going to the gay bars for the first time. If the bar he goes to has mostly effeminate men, he quickly tends to imitate their actions. No one wants to be the oddball in the group. We know that in any group to be accepted by that group you must fit in. If the people in a bar all act feminine then to fit in you too must act feminine. EMMA Bookstore: A New Home In Allentown EMMA, the Buffalo Women's Bookstore moves to Allentown, Tuesday, February second. EMMA has a new location — 168 Elmwood, between Allen and North. There will be a grand opening celebration on Saturday, February 6th, with refreshments, a gift certificate drawing, and a 10% discount on sales. Store hours are 11 to 7, Tuesday through Saturday. EMMA is an information and resource center for women and offers a lending library. EMMA sells books on women's lives, health, fiction, poetry, as well as records, children's books, T-shirts, and cards. 836-8970 for further information. EMMA Bookstore will be housed in this building, 168 Elmwood near North, in February, Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7